K Doolittle

Yesterday, I was sitting at my desk working (shaddup, I really was working) when I heard a "THONK!" coming from my bosses office. I instantly knew what it was...and I ran over to the window.
I saw a really tiny little bird laying downstairs on the ground. His neck was all twisted and he was laying on his back...I thought for sure he was dead. But then I saw that he was still breathing. So I ran downstairs with some kleenex in hand and picked up the bird. He kind of flopped over and lifted his head to look at me. I was shocked that his neck seemed okay...and I pet him and held him. It seemed like he was really disoriented, and just knocked himself silly.
I put him in a box and proceeded to call several people trying to get advice about what to do. T told me to call the wildlife center, and reminded me that I shouldn't touch the bird because if it's a baby and the momma bird smells human, then they'll abandon him. So I started to freak out...thinking that I'd ruined this bird's chance of going back to his family. I left a message for the wildlife center, and left him in the box to rest.
Finally, before I left work - the wildlife place called me back and reassured me that touching him with my bare hand wouldn't do any harm...that birds really don't have a sense of smell...whew! She told me to hold him in a flat hand and see if he would fly away.
I held him up by the tree outside, and he just kind of hunkered down in my palm and closed his eyes. He obviously wasn't ready to fly.
So we put him back in the box...sealed the lid - and poked holes in the side. I put some water and some birdseed in the bottom of the box...and left him in a dark and quiet place overnight.

He was SO tiny and so cute...I really hoped he'd make it....

This morning, I peeked into the box and he hopped around and chirped at me! So I took the box downstairs and took the lid off. He looked at me and turned his head to the side as if to say "huh? I'm free? I can go now?"

He kinda cruised around in the box, and I reached down to pick him up thinking that he'd fly away - and he did! He flew up into a nearby tree...sat on the branch and chirped and chirped. He flew around from branch to branch, chirping all the while. I could just imagine him telling his friends "hey guys, you would not BELIEVE what I went through yesterday!"

I gotta say, that whole experience was pretty darn cool :)

And something weird? My friend Ani rescued a bird yesterday too - same darn window THONK happened to her. What are the chances?